Acetylene-gas generator.



H. W. LAUN.

AGETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

APPLIUATION FILED APR.25, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0..wAsHlNGToN. D, C.

Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

H. W. LAUN. AGETYLENE GAS GENERATOR.

APPLIGATION FILED APR. z5, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA LANOGRAPH :0., WASHINGTON. D4 c.

H. W. LAUN.

AGETYLENB GAS GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR.25, 1910.

1,052,070. Patented Feb.4,1913.

Aso

4iiivgiriii) STATES ,PATENT onirica.

HENRY W. LAUN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ACETYLENE-GAS GENERATOR.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY WV. LAUN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Acetylene-Gas Generator, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to acetylene gas generators in which the water is fed into a receptacle containing the carbid and the objects of my improvements are first, to automatically turn on or shut off the water as required according to the amount of gas used; second, to have the carbid receptacle submerged in water; third to provide the carbid container with rails for the removable receptacle to slide on; fourth, to provide an indicator bead or mark o-n the carbid receptacle; fifth, to provide a safety sealing mechanism for the carbid receptacle; sixth to pro-vide a plurality of independent carbid containers with carbid receptacles, seventh to make a novel and quick acting controlling mechanism for the water supply; eighth to arrange all the parts in neat durable and simple device and other features follow.

This invention is an improvement on the invention forming the subject matter of Patent Number 627,303, issued June 20, 1899 to Ernest E. Laun, and imyself, and is similar to said invention in general appearance and operation.

rlhe improvements comprise a novel shutott'l mechanism for the water fed to the carbid, so constructed that it cannot become disarianged and the operation of the valve is quick, a plurality of rails in the bottom of the carbid container on which the removable carbid receptacle is slid iii and out; a depression or bead formed in the sheet metal walls of the carbid receptacle to indicate to what height the receptacle is to be filled with carbid; a connection between the carbid receptacle sealing door and the gas supply valve, so that the mid door cannot be opened until the gas supply pipe valve is shut off and the vent from the carbid receptacle is opened; a plurality of carbid receptacles arranged in independent containers connected to the same gasometer, so that if the one charge of carbid becomes exhausted another charge can at once be brought into service by simply turning the necessary valves and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 25, 1910.

'Patented Feb. 4, 1913.

Serial No. 558,082.

ings forming a part of this specification in .which .Figure 1 is a vertical central sectional view of a gas machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of one of the jcarbid receptacle containers; Fig. 3 is a plan 'section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a plan section taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a cross section through one of the carbid containers taken on line 5-5 of Fig. .4; Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the machine fshown in Fig. 1 showing the automat-ic water feed device; Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail lview partly in section of the automatic wa- :ter feed device seen in Fig. 6; Fig. 8, is a lperspective view of one carbid receptacle jpartly broken away; and Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view showing the construction of `the carbid container cover.

and compact form; ninth, to make a cheap, I

Similar reference characters referv to simi- `lar parts throughout the several views. to become apparent from t-he description to The main body of the machine comprises Ithe cylindrical sheet metal tank 10 provided with the bottom 11 and the horizontal partition 12 a short distance, say about afoot, above the bottom 11 which serves to divide the interior of the tank 10 into the upper compartment 13 and the lower compartment 14. The upper compartment 13 is filled with water to near the top as indicated and the lower compartment 14 is also filled with water to within a short distance below the partit-ion 12. A filling spout 15 is provided for the upper compartment 13 and a filling pipe 16 is pro-vided for the lower compartment 14. To remove the water fro-in the upper compartment 13 a drain pipe 17 is provided,

see Fig. 6, and a drain pipe 18 is provided for the lower compartment 14.

A gasometer dome 19 is arranged to float on the water contained in the upper comvpartment 13 and is guided in its vertical 4movement by t-he central vertical pipe or rod .20 having its lower end rigidly secured to the ranged two carbid containers 24 and 25 having their front open ends extending some distance outside the vertical wall of the tank 10 but surrounded by the water jacket 26 which communicates with the interior of the lower compartment 14 so that the containers 24 and 25 are entirely surrounded by water with the exception of their front open ends which are closed by the doors 27 when the machine is in operation.

Since each of the carbid containers 24 and 25 are constructed alike and are connected and arranged similarly, I will proceed to describe only one of said containers. A carbid receptacle 28, shown in detail in Fig. 8, is fitted to slide loosely into the container 25 and is constructed with a plurality of compartments 29 into which t-he carbid is placed. The vertical walls of the receptacle 28 are provided with a horizontal bead 30 to indicate to what height the compartments 29 should be filled with carbid for proper operation. The compartments 29 are arranged in a series and the vertical wall 31 between each two consecutive compartments of the series is made slightly lower than the remaining walls 32, so that when water is admitted into the receptacle at one end of the series a continual iow of water will ill each compartment of the whole series consecutively. The front open end of the container 25 is provided with a metallic frame 33 against which the door 27 is tightly pressed by means of the screw threaded rod, 34 and the brace 35, the ends of which rest impert'orations provided in the forwardly extending lugs 36 provided on frame 33. The rod 34 is turned as desired by means of the two forwardly extending handles 37. To form an air-tight joint, a gasket 38 is interposed between the cover 27 and the frame 33, said gasket 38 being cemented into a groove provided in the cover, as seen in Fig. 9. The carbid receptacle 28 is removed from the container 25 each time a new charge of carbid is placed therein, and to prevent the bottom of the container 25 from being worn through from such continual use, I provide the metal strips or rails 39 secured to the bottom of the container' 25 for the carbid receptacle 28 to slide on as seen in Figs. 4 and 5.

As is well known in the art water must be brought into contact with the carbid to generate the gas, and in this machine the water is fed into the container 24, through pipe 40 and into the container 25 through the pipe 41. As the water enters the con* tainers through the top wall it enters the carbid receptacle 28, and the particular compartment 29 into which the water is fed is made with a false bottom 42, so that no carbid can be placed therein. The reason for omitting the carbid in the compartment directly unc er the outlet of the water supply pipe is to prevent the carbid from clogging up the said water pipe when the carbid swells, as it does when it comes in contact with water.

The gas generated within the container 24, passes on through the pipe 43, thence through pipe 44, up into the dome 19 above the surface of the water in the upper compart-ment 13. The gas generated within the container 25 passes out through the pipe 45, thence through pipe 44 and up into the dome 19 above the water in the compartment 13. The gas is never generated in. both containers 24 and 25 at the same time and to be. able to recharge the one while the other is in operation, valves 46 and 47 are provided in the pipes 43 and 45 respectively, z'. c., the turning oi the valves 46 and 47 will prevent any gas passing from underneath the dome 19 back into the containers 24 and 25, so that the covers 27 could be removed without any gas escaping to the atmosphere.

A small quantity of gas will always be contained in the containers 24 and 25 when the valves 46 and 47 are closed and to permit this quantity of gas to escape to the atmosphere the valves 46 and 47 are made three-way valves and so arranged that when the valves are in a closed position the gas, from the containers is free to pass through the pipes 48 which lead to the compartment 14 above the surface of the water, from whence the gas is free to pass out of the building through the pipe 49. The pipe 44 extends down through the partition 12 and terminates under the water in the compartment 14 a short distance above the bottom 11 to form a water sea-l at 50.

The handles 51 provided to operate the valves 46 and 47 are in the form of rods whose extremities 52 lie between the handles 37 of rod 34 in such manner that the rod 34 cannot be turned to release the door 27 while the valve is open. This arrangement is for the purpose of preventing the door 27 being opened while the valve is open by mistake or otherwise. I have found from experience that the rod 51 is sometimes moved by accident or by playful children or animals and to guard against such action, I have provided a pivote/d hook 53 to connect the free end of the rod 51 to the rod 34, so that the rod 51 cannot be moved until the hook 53 is disconnected from the rod 34.

As clearly seen in Fig. 6, the water supply pipes 4() and 41 extend to the exterior of the tank 10 where they extend up a short distance then down and finally up again forming the individual traps 54; from thence the pipes 40 and 41 extend up and are connected to the supply pipe 55 which is connected to the lower end of the water tank 56. rllhe pipes 40 and 41 are provided with shut off valves 57 and 58 respectively, so that the water from tank 56 can beA dithrough pipe 41 into container 25.

rected to either of the two containers 24 or 25. Obviously if valve 57 is open the water will flow through pipe 40 into container 24 and if valve 56 is open the water will flow Since only one of these two valves 57 or 58 is open at a time, I conveniently connect them with a rod 59 in such manner that when the one valve is opened the other will be closed. The tank 56 contains sufficient water to entirely slake all the carbid in both containers 24 and 25, and to prevent too much water passing into either of the containers, I provide a vertical partition 60 in the tank 56 dividing the tank into two equal compartments and run a branch pipe 61 from each compartment to the supply pipe 55 and provide each branch pipe with a shut off valve 62 which valves are conveniently connected by a rod 62 so arranged that only one of the valves can be open at a time. Thus it is clear that the water from only one compartment of tank 56 is permitted to flow into the carbid receptacle ata time. When the carbid in one carbid receptacle is entirely slaked it is necessary to turn 'the valves to permit the water from the other compartment of tank 56 to flow into another carbid receptacle. By this arrangement either carbid receptacle can be re-charged with fresh or unslaked carbid while the other carbid receptacle is in operation, and the supply of gas need never to be shut olf. The flow of water through pipe 55 from tank 56 to the carbid containers is regulated by the position of valve 63 and the position of valve 63 is determined by the position of the gasometer dome 19. It will be understood that the dome 19 moves up and down according to the quantity of gas contained in the same, a'. c., a large quantity of gas will cause the dome to rise'and a small quantity will cause the dome to lower. A forked lever 64 is secured to the stem of valve 63 and lies in the plane of a rod or pin 65 rigidly secured to the channel bar 66, attached to travel up and down with the dome 19 and guided by sliding through the perforation in bracket 67 secured to the exterior of tank 10. The upper end of the channel bar 66 is detachably secured to the dome 19 at 68.

As clearly seen in Fig. 7, when the valve 63 is in a closed position, z'. e., the full line position in said Fig. 7, the end of the short arm of the forked lever 64 tracks in the channel of bar 66 so that the said lever 64 cannot move by accident or otherwise out of the path of the pin 65, which is secured to span the channel of bar 66. As the bar 66 with the dome 19 moves down from the full line position of Fig. 7, the pin 65 enters the gap between the two prongs of lever64 and moves the free ends of lever 64 down in an arc about the valve as a pivot until the said lever comes to stop into contact with the bracket 67 as shown by the dotted line position in Fig. 7, in which position water is permitted to flow through the pipe 55 and the valve 63 is closed. A portion of the center part of the channel bar 66 is cut away to form a slot 69 through which the free ends of the lever 64 extend during a part of its movement.

In operation when a large quantity of gas is generated the dome 19 rises and by means of the mechanism described shuts olf the flow of water to the carbid, and when the supply of gas decreases the dome 19 will lower and turn on the water which flows into the carbid receptacle and thereby generates more gas. In this manner the dome 19 will rise and fall continually although the consumption of the gas may be steady and regular. The gas from under the dome 19 as best seen in Fig. 1, passes down through the pipe 7 0 and thence through the house service pipe 71. The pipe 7 0 extends through the partition 12 and terminates under the water in compartment 14 a short distance above the bottom 11 forming the water seal and drip 72. As best seen in Fig. 4, the service pipe 71 and the waste pipe 49 are connected by a short pipe provided with a valve 73, which valve is opened when I -it is desired to drain all the gas out of the machine. A pipe 74 extends from above the surface of the water-'in compartment 13 down throughthe partition 12 where it term-inates above the water in compartment 14 and a pipe 75 rigidly secured to the top of the dome 19 telescopes loosely over the pipe 74. The pipe 75 is provided with a hole 76 at such position that when the dome 19 is at its uppermost position the hole 7 6 will be above the surface of the water in compartment 13 so that: the gas can pass from the dome 19 through hole 76 up between pipes 75 and 74, down through pipe 74 into compartment 14 above the water and thence out through the waste pipe 49.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is 1. In a gas generator, a sealed container, a carbid receptacle within said sealed container, a plurality of compartments arranged in a series separated by suitable partitions within said receptacle, partitions other than those between the consecutive compartments the partitions between the consecutive compartments of the series being lower throughout their entire extent than the remaining partitions, a pipe extending through the top wall of the sealed container for feeding water into the first compartment of the series, and a false bottom in the first compartment of the series to prevent the introduction of carbid into said compartment.

2. In a device of the class described, a

gasometer dome, two carbid containers of equal capacities, two water receptacles of equal capacities, a regulating valve con trolled by the gasometer dome to control the flow of water automatically, a discharge pipe provided with a valve leading from each water receptacle to the said regulating valve, said two valves connected to move in unison so that the one is open and the other closed, an inlet pipe provided with a valve leading from the regulating valve to each carbid receptacle, said two valves connected to move in unison so that the one is open and the other is closed, the parts being so constructed and arranged that neither carbid receptacle can be overflowed with water and one carbid receptacle and one water receptacle can be recharged while the other carbid receptacle and water receptacle are in operation and the one regulating valve is in constant operation.

ln a gas generator, a suitable upright tank provided with upper and lower compartments containing water, a gasometer dome in the upper compartment containers in the lower compartment, removable carbid receptacles within said containers, a pipe forming communication between the space below the dome, and a point below Athe water in the lower compartment, in-

dividual pipes each provided with a valve forming communication between said first named pipe and each carbid container' whereby the gas is conducted from the latter to the dome, an overiiow pipe leading from the lower compartment above the water to the exterior, a gas service pipe leading from below the dome to the exterior and having a branch terminating below the water in the lower compartment, a pipe pro- 40 vided with a valve connecting the overflow pipe and the service pipe, a two compartment water supply tank, a water supply pipe provided with a regulating valve and branches provided with connected valves leading to the two compartments of the water supply tank and branches provided with connected valves leading to the two carbid containers and means for operating the regulating valve in the water supply pipe au- HENRY WV. LAUN.

Witnesses R. J. JACKER, GEORGE S. ANDRES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- Washington, D. C. 

